Various cool software and more

VmWare – Disklimit reached

With monster applications like Office 2007 (and updates) installed on my VmWare machine  my 12gb virtual hdd quickly became a tad to small, and how do you expand a VmWare harddisk (well not from the GUI, which to me seem quite lame but true never the less)!?

Well a guy called Alexey Vasilyev was kind enough to write a simple 4 step guide, which I even managed to cut a few steps off..

Anyway, here it is enjoy;
http://www.vmweekly.com/articles/expanding_the_virtual_disk_size_in_4_steps/1/

PDF version;
http://www.vmweekly.com/pdf/expanding_the_virtual_disk_size_in_4_steps.pdf

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Disable “File and Printer” sharing – quick security improvement

A quick security tip for you, on your laptop/netbook check your network configuration and remove the check mark under “File & Printer Sharing” for your wireless adapter.

wireless111

Why!?  Well you likely do not share that many files/folders/printers (if as, I suspect, any!?) on your pc while working wirelessly!?  Now where do you use your wireless network??, ANYWHERE both on hotels, work and at home and as many vulnerabilities target the ports used by “File and printer sharing” then you are unnecessary exposed.   Once disabled you can still access shares on a file server and on other computers, you just cannot share on your own computer (wireless only, it still work for wired network).

Why not do it on all adapters you say (including your wired LAN), well if you are not sharing any files or printers – go ahead it will all improve your security, however if you occasionally share files with co-workers etc. then this may not be ideal to you..

Think about it, how often do you share files or printers with co-workers/friends/family via Wireless network?  Rarely right?  And when you are at Starbucks or wherever which type of connection do you use?  Wireless!!  Exactly, and that is why you should at least disable “File and Pritner sharing” for your wireless net card.. 

PROS;  Really raise your security level for exposed environments, no real loss in options, speed or productivity.

CONS; None really, only if you really need “File and Printer sharing” via your wireless adapter (which as I mentioned is fairly unlikely).

Workaround if you DO need File sharing wirelessly;
Yes ofcause you can have your cake and eat it too..
hfs1If you need to share files with friends, coworkers etc, then there is a nifty small freeware utility that may be of interest to you called HFS, its basically a small webserver that you can run on demand (it does not install anything services, autolaunch at start up etc.) .  All you need to do is to download it, run it and then drag files you wish to share into it, your coworker, friend or whomever can simply download the file via his/her browser (you can even set password or limit the download speed so they don’t steal all your bandwidth).

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USB Image Tool

usb-image-toolSay you got a brand new advanced MP3 player for Christmas, one of those with a USB interface..  Lets say you wanted to play around with it, but still wanted to be able to return it to how it looked when you got it!?  Possible?  Why yes indeed 🙂  You can create an image of a usb device (possibly not all types of devices) using – USB Image Tool 

Cool 🙂

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Time Conversion – Time Confusion

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timezone_mapAs I work in an international company I often have to contact people in different timezones, and its not always easy keeping track of what the time is where.

Especially annoying is it when you have to inform about maintenance and (because you are just a tad service minded) try to write all the local times as well as local time.

Anyhow, I got a few pointers this morning;

The quick way to get local time anywhere is;
http://www.timeticker.com/

If you are planning meetings etc;
http://www.timeanddate.com
The latter site has some useful features, meeting planner and national holiday information.

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IPTOOLS.DK

If you are living in Denmark and would like to know which SMTP server to use (and can´t seem to find this on your ISP’s web-site), then try www.iptools.dk and click “SMTP servers” – from your IP these guys seem to be able to determine most popular ISP’s smtp servers.

Besides the SMTP feature there are a bunch of other cool tools on the site, so give it a spin if you are from these parts of the world.

iptools

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SpyMe – say what?

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Well the name of this software could lead to some confusion, SpyMe?  Now why would I want to Spy myself, there is enough of a hassle with Spyware as it is..

Well this is different, this software is actually ‘your spy’ against other software.  Let’s say you are installing a new piece of software, but actually really would like to know what exactly this software does – what files it installs – what registry changes it does, etc etc etc.  Well this software will, much like the utilities used for making software packages .msi etc, create a before and after snapshot and you can thus see exactly what was done.  As I read it it also offers real time viewing of all activities..

It all sounds nice, and as its FREEWARE you’ll not be ruined 😉

I still would advocate for “Sandbox-IE” as it also offers an undo function, but still – should you just want to keep a short leach on some software installed on your pc this just might be what you are looking for.

http://www.lcibrossolutions.com/spyme_tools.htm

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Freedownload manager – security update

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fdmlogoIf you use the excellent “Free downloadmanager” (FDM) you should make sure you have the latest version and patches installed, a serious security bug was discovered on feb 2nd 2009 by Secunia.com

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Autorun FIXED – good news for Windows

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autorunIf you have ever had problems with autorun files in Windows (within a corporate environment) here is some good news for you. 

If you, in your environment set up a GPO to disable autorun.inf to combat the spread of virus/malware you were likely dissapointed, yes the setting was propogated to the pc’s but it did not stop all autorun.inf’s from executing.  The problem (among other things) had to do with complexities of autorun introduced with of USB devices (before it was only cd and disks).

Anyway, FINNALLY Microsoft has come up with a patch, lets just hope it works out 🙂  I have not had the opputunity to test it yet.

Patch should be introduced via Windows Update, for more details look here;u
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/967940.mspx

Update March 8th 2009, I tested the patch, and it DOES now work on network shares as well, excellent 🙂

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IE7 – Zone problems on Windows 2003

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I was patching a newly installed Win 2003 server, and the first thing I was met by was that the Windows Update web site could not be opened unless it was added as a Trusted site, however when trying to add the site http://update.microsoft.comI was met by a dialog box stating that “”There was an unexpected error with your zone settings. Unable to add site.“.  On this server Internet Explorer Enhanced security had been uninstalled.

Solution;

  • Re-install “Internet Explorer Enhanced security” from control panel, add remove programs, Windows components. 
  • Add the zones you need.
  • If you like uninstall “Internet Explorer Enhanced security” again.
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LogonStudio for Vista – change logon background

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vistalogon123Are you as tired as I of the Aurora logon background every time you logon to Windows Vista, its just so darn depressing.

Well the nice people at Stardock to the rescue with “LogonStudio for Vista”, install and select your new logon background – that’s it clean and simple (is likely to work also on Windows 7).

Get it here;
http://www.download.com/LogonStudio-Vista/3000-2072_4-10696252.html

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